A SENIOR Malaysian Islamic judge was on Monday charged with 'khalwat", a charge imposed for illicit contact with someone of the opposite sex, state media said.Adam Tumiran, a 43-year-old judge with the Sharia High Court in northern Penang state, pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
in a lower religious court to 'close proximity' with a woman at a government residence last December.
If found guilty, the pair face a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment, the state news agency Bernama said. The woman in the case, a 34-year-old financial adviser, also pleaded not guilty.
Malaysia's Islamic morality police periodically carry out khalwat raids, on hotels and private residences, under religious laws that bar Mohammedans from being alone with a member of the opposite sex before marriage.
Malaysia has a dual-track legal system and Islamic courts can try Mohammedans - who dominate the multi-cultural population - for religious and moral offences.